It’s Campaign Contribution Examination Season…

Politico’s Kenneth P. Vogel writes about a contribution which Joe Scarborough apparently never made…

But Alabama state campaign finance records show a $5,000 contribution in April from Scarborough, the former Republican congressman who now co-hosts an eponymous morning show on MSNBC and writes a weekly column for POLITICO, to Alabama state legislative candidate John Merrill, who said the two have been close friends since they attended the University of Alabama together.

That contribution should have been in the name of Scarborough’s wife, Susan Scarborough, according to Scarborough’s co-host on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Mika Brzezinski, as well as John R. McGregor III, a representative from the Scarborough’s Pensacola, Fla., bank.

“The Scarborough’s expect John Merrill will amend his campaign report to accurately reflect that reality,” said Brzezinski. “If he does not, I will recommend they file an ethics complaint against him.”

Vogel also turns an eye towards other Cable Newsies including Sean Hannity and Mike Huckabee…

At Fox, Hannity planned a fundraiser this year for John Kasich’s successful Ohio gubernatorial campaign, though the network took issue with his plans to broadcast from a tea party fundraiser.

Hannity and Huckabee – unabashed GOP partisans – have given a combined $20,500 to GOP candidates and causes this year. Hannity gave maximum donations to Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann’s political action committee and John Gomez’s unsuccessful campaign for a New York congressional seat, while Huckabee, who also maintains a political action committee that donates to candidates, wrote $10,700 in personal checks to state and federal Republican politicians.

Keith Olbermann Interview…

And in another case of great timing, The New York Times’ Deborah Solomon interviews Keith Olbermann…obviously before the suspension…

You wrote on Twitter that Stewart had jumped the shark. Are you suggesting his show is in decline?

I said he jumped a small shark. If he believes he has no political viewpoint, that’s ludicrous. For him to now say, ‘‘I’m not in the media, I’m not poised in this world of political expression, I never take gratuitous shots at people or go over the top and I’m not particularly pointed in one direction,’’ each of those things was ludicrous.

But two days later you seemed to have softened, announcing on your show that you were abandoning a popular and vitriolic segment called “Worst Person in the World.’’

At least temporarily but probably permanently.

Have you ever been a guest on Jon Stewart’s show?

No. I was invited in 2003 or 2004, within the first year of my show. We were still in Secaucus, N.J., so to do the show I would have had to have taken the whole day off at that point, and they wouldn’t let me at MSNBC. I will say that there was never another invitation, and I’m not sure why.

David Shuster Interview…

National Journal’s Amanda Munoz-Temple, in a case of great timing, interviews David Shuster…

Q: First, MSNBC has publicly said your contract ends in December. What are your future plans?

I’m confident MSNBC and I will have an amicable conversation at some point about my future and theirs. Beyond that, I am not going to talk right now about what’s ahead.

Q: Are you upset with how MSNBC handled your situation?

Not in the least. I harbor no resentment or ill will towards MSNBC.

Olbermann Suspended

Wow, if this doesn’t send a message, I don’t know what will. Keith Olbermann has been suspended by MSNBC indefinitely for the Democratic contributions scandal.

The New York Times’ Brian Stelter and Bill Carter’s writing seems to suggest that Olbermann’s MSNBC days are probably not done…

No one at NBC News, MSNBC’s parent, would speculate about what this might mean for Mr. Olbermann’s future, though two NBC executives privately suggested this was not a step toward firing him.

One executive said the network decided it was imperative to take this kind of strong action as a way of underscoring that MSNBC, while featuring prime-time shows that overly support Democratic policy, remains a channel that adheres to fundamental journalistic values.

Like on, um, election night? Can’t reconcile what happened on election night with that last sentence.

If this doesn’t finally force MSNBC to permanently ban its ideological talking heads from fronting political news scenarios whether it’s an election, a primary, inauguration, funeral, address to the nation…whatever you can think of…if it doesn’t finally put back that firewall it always talked about but rarely enforced then Olbermann’s suspension has no real meaning. Olbermann has now permanently made himself radioactive from anchoring any straight political news story ever again. And if MSNBC goes forward with Maddow, Schultz, or O’Donnell but leaves out Olbermann…or worse brings Olbermann back to the political anchor chair again, then it hasn’t learned anything.

Update: TVNewser’s Chris Ariens writes that insiders are saying Olbermann won’t be back. If that is the case I think it will be more because Olbermann doesn’t want to come back after being suspended than because MSNBC wouldn’t take him back. I think Phil Griffin would have a spine of steel if he ended Olbermann’s MSNBC career. It’s not impossible. I didn’t think Griffin would dump Shuster over what he dumped him over.

But It’s going to kill MSNBC to lose that 8pm lead in. I think we won’t be guessing on Olbermann’s status like we were with Shuster’s. They’ll have to move fast to preserve 8pm momentum. A bunch of fill ins will not do that job. If Olbermann is indeed done, I would expect to see Maddow slide forward an hour very quickly. I would also look to see whether Ed Schultz maybe moves to 9pm and/or Cenk Uygur gets hired full time.

MSNBC can ill afford to leave its lineup in disarray long term and than means one of two things: 1) bringing Olbermann back soon or 2) re-arranging the primetime lineup to avoid too much disruption.

Free for All: 11/05/10

What’s on your mind?

Keith Olbermann Made Campaign Contributions to Three 2010 Democrats…

In a story that’s going to cause all kinds of discomfort inside NBC, and uncontrollable chortling at FNC and News Corp., Politico’s Simmi Aujla writes about three campaign donations Keith Olbermann made to Democrat candidates…

Olbermann, who acknowledged the contributions in a statement to POLITICO, made the maximum legal donations of $2,400 apiece to Conway and to Arizona Reps. Raul Grijalva and Gabrielle Giffords. He donated to the Arizona pair on Oct. 28 — the same day that Grijalva appeared as a guest on Olbermann’s “Countdown” show.

Grijalva, a prominent liberal who was just declared a winner in his race Thursday night, was in a tight contest against tea party-backed candidate Ruth McClung when he appeared on “Countdown” — one of several appearances he made on the show.

NBC has a rule against employees contributing to political campaigns, and a wide range of news organizations prohibit political contributions — considering it a breach of journalistic independence to contribute to the candidates they cover.

Here are the operative questions everyone should be asking going forward:

1) Did Olbermann follow NBC guidelines and seek permission from Steve Capus “or his designee” and was it granted?
2) Was Phil Griffin aware of the contribution prior to election night?
3) Was MSNBC at all concerned with having someone who donated to political candidates front their election night coverage?

Two days ago I wrote the following concerning MSNBC not using journalists for its election night coverage…

Until there’s an embarrassment of colossal proportions that the News Division cannot wipe away easily, and last night’s Michelle Bachman interview doesn’t come close enough, nothing is going to change that.

I was talking about “on air” embarrassments but this off air embarrassment does come “close enough”.

Inside the EEOC/FNC Lawsuit…

Politico’s Josh Gerstein writes about details in court filings concerning the EEOC/FNC lawsuit about Catherine Herridge…

Fox News’s response to a federal government lawsuit charging the network with retaliating against a reporter who complained of age and gender discrimination is putting Fox’s DC salary scale and basic contract terms for on-air talent on the public record.

According to legal papers Fox filed Thursday evening, the top end of Fox’s pay scale for DC-based reporters was $460,000 in 2008. The network also stitched some interesting language into its contracts, including a provision that flatly banned its talent from going on CNN, MSNBC, or CNBC to promote any books the Fox news reporters might write.

The details come from Fox’s response to a lawsuit the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed against the network in September alleging that Fox retaliated against national security correspondent Catherine Herridge after she complained internally of being shunted out of a weekend anchor slot because of her age and because she’s a woman.

Unsurprisingly, Fox denies any retaliation took place.